Generation of nanomagnetic biocomposites by genetic engineering of bacterial magnetosomes

Magnetosomes are magnetic nanoparticles biomineralized by magnetotactic bacteria. They consist of a monocrystalline magnetite core enveloped by the magnetosome membrane, which harbors a set of specialized proteins. For the alphaproteobacterium Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense genetic techniques were developed for engineering both crystal morphology and the enveloping membrane, thereby generating building blocks for magnetic organic-inorganic hybrid materials. Genetic manipulation of magnetite biomineralization enabled the generation of core-engineered nanoparticles with adjusted magnetic and physicochemical properties. Functionalization of the particle surface was achieved by genetic expression of enzymes and peptides genetically fused to abundant magnetosome anchor proteins. High-level expression allowed the generation of multifunctional nanoparticles with maximized protein-to-particle ratios. This allowed for the tuning of surface properties (charge and hydrodynamic diameter), and the colloidal and enzymatic stability was improved by coating with inorganic and organic shells. The expression of molecular connectors might serve as scaffolds for the introduction of further functionalities. Overall, this demonstrates that the 'synthetic biology' approach enables the generation of multifunctional, magnetic hybrid materials with a tuned property spectrum exceeding those of conventional materials, and the combination of different biogenic materials generates fully genetically encoded biocomposites with enhanced potential for various biotechnological and biomedical applications.